“One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list," she added.

The Brit, who won a lifetime achievement honor alongside the best actress award at last year's European Film Awards, was later asked whether the Academy should introduce quotas.

"Why classify people?" she responded. "These days everyone is more or less accepted ... People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’ ... someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ [this or that] ... But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?”